Parents
by ExtremeWriter
Summary: After Will has had a few days to calm down about the whole Terri thing, he calls Quinn into his office so they can discuss her part of the baby plot. ONESHOT


Will Schuester opened the door to his classroom on Tuesday morning. Putting his stuff aside, he thought about how grateful he was for the three-day weekend; he really needed it so he could cool off after his whole fight with Terri.

Will was miserable in too many ways. There were just so many things that bewildered him. He didn't understand why Terri was so afraid of losing him. He wasn't going to deny that they had both been hostile towards each other even before the baby thing started. Sure, she was lazy, and she wouldn't stop throwing their money away. But that didn't in any way mean that he was ready to walk out the door.

Looking back on the way she was acting, Will also couldn't believe how he could have missed it. Why Terri never let him see her chest when she claimed she had a 'rash.' And the whole sonogram thing didn't make any sense at all. Will had found out later that she and Kendra had blackmailed Terri's doctor into using the tape. He could not believe how evil and manipulative those two were; it was no wonder they were sisters.

But Terri's irrational insecurity wasn't what bothered him the most about the situation, nor was his stupidity.

Soon, enough, his students piled into the classroom. Will noticed right away that Santana and Brittany were walking far ahead of Quinn. That had been going on ever since Quinn had gotten kicked off the Cheerios months ago, but when the ex-queen bee slunk into the room, he couldn't help but notice she was just a little more vulnerable than usual.

Quinn walked all the way to the back of the room and, avoiding eye contact with everyone, got out her books and homework. People had been bothering Quinn for a long time, but something more was up with her.

As the hour progressed, Will watched Quinn closely. She kept glancing at Brittany and Santana, glaring at them as they whispered. Will shook his head. That girl had just gone through too much, and in his opinion, sometimes she was too passive about it.

Eventually, class ended, and Quinn got up, trying once again to be inconspicuous. She waited a while to move anywhere, then took her time just walking towards the door. Will stopped her.

"Quinn," he said. She froze, refusing to look him in the eye.

"I know," she said, her voice shaking a little. "Kendra called me last night. I'm sorry things didn't work out with your wife. Look, I have to go now. I have to get to class."

"You have your free period next," he said evenly. "Just stay here for a while."

"Please don't be mad at me. Mr. Schue. There are enough people mad at me right now. Just give me a break," she pleaded, still avoiding eye contact.

So that was why she was abnormally nervous. "I'm not mad at you, Quinn. I just don't understand why you felt that giving the baby to Terri was the best solution. Why did you let her control you like that?"

Quinn sat down in one of the chairs in the front row, and Will sat on his desk. He waited patiently for Quinn to think it over and steady her voice. A single tear slipped down her cheek before she began.

"I did it because I was scared. I needed to just get rid of this thing. And when your wife found her way into my car and demanded my baby, I didn't give it another thought. This baby is ruining my life."

"It hasn't completely ruined your life, Quinn. You know that."

"Yeah, okay, fine. I got closer to the people in Glee, but what else? It's not like anybody was there to help me make this decision. When Terri was in my car and was telling me to give her my daughter, there wasn't anyone else to talk me out of it. There has never been anyone in my entire life who was there to help me through anything. I have always been alone."

"You could have talked to Finn," Will insisted, shaking his head. "He is the father of that baby, and he loves it, and he wants it to have a good life. He doesn't want to just get rid of it."

The knowledge the first part of that statement wasn't actually true made Quinn cringe, but she replied, "I do, too. That's why I wanted Terri to have it. Because it would have you as a father." She tried to smile through her tears.

Will smiled a little too, but he went on, "You don't get it though, Quinn. You don't have to walk the halls friendless, you don't have to make all your decisions alone, and you don't have to think that there's no one there to give you support. You have eleven good friends, not to mention me, who are right there with you three times a week."

"I wasn't raised that way, Mr. Schuester. My parents were never there to give me their love and support, even though I loved them. All my life they had raised me as an independent young girl. Ever since I was about eleven, they would always push me away when I needed them most, saying that I was a big girl and I could do it alone. They disapproved of me reaching out for support at all."

"Your parents are wrong, though, Quinn. Everybody needs support, and people can still be independent with it. Besides, although it may be hard staying with Finn right now, you don't have the pressure of your parents anymore, and you can live how you want. If you want help, you're allowed to get it from your friends."

Quinn shrugged, her crying starting to pick up. "I realize that, but my friends will never be my parents. They may have loved me, but they didn't let me have what I really needed. Finn and his mom are lovely, but they are not the people who I grew up with every single day. And besides, I can't stay with him forever."

Will nodded understandingly. "I know that. I know that the love of your parents is irreplaceable, and it hurts that you don't feel as happy and safe around them. My parents were the same way, and it's not something that I'm ever going to get."

"It's true," Quinn sobbed. "I am putting the baby up for adoption now. And I don't care at all who she ends up with. It can be a single dad, a single mom, or two dads and two moms. It doesn't matter if her parent or parents has money, just as long as they understand her and give her the freedom to live her own life. But most of all, I want whoever she ends up with to be there to make her feel better, and I want to make sure she knows that she's never alone. I want her to have the life that I couldn't. And to be honest, even though I can't have it anymore, I want it too. I want a parent."

Will went over to her and rubbed her back.

"I may be your teacher, Quinn. But I can still be your parent as well. I don't think that you have to be alone, and I am here if you need someone to talk to again. You kids in Glee are the children I never had, and I can promise you that I wouldn't hesitate to do anything for you guys. You can trust that."

"I trust that, Mr. Schue. And I do think that you're a good teacher, too. I'll be okay," she said, reassuring both herself and Mr. Schuester. She stood up. "Anyway, I think I ought to get going. I promised Mercedes I would help her study for a biology test. I'll see you this afternoon, though."

"Yup, you sure will, Quinn. Have a good day until then." They smiled and waved, and then Quinn left.


End file.
